


Right Where We Belong

by onceandfuturekiki



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6098925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceandfuturekiki/pseuds/onceandfuturekiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened after Keyleth let Vax into her room during Dangerous Dealings. An alternate, more "intimate" (though not smut) version of my other story, Let the World Slip Away. Originally posted to Tumblr, but this version is much more polished and complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right Where We Belong

**Author's Note:**

> This is an alternate, more "intimate" version of my story Let the World Slip Away. It's a stand-alone fic, but it does have some of the same dialogue in certain spots as the previous story.

They stood there, staring at each other for several moments, before they seemed to make the decision at the same time. Vax started to move into Keyleth’s arms just as she opened them to welcome him in. The time stretched on as they stayed that way, wrapped around each other, remaining very still in the hope that by not moving they could maintain the feeling forever. Her fingers threaded through his hair, clutching at the strands, wanting keep him close to her, and she sighed as one of his hands moved up her back, pulling her into his chest.

When Keyleth started to feel her limbs growing heavy she pulled away, taking Vax’s hand without a word and leading him further into the room. He followed her immediately, but she could feel the slight hesitation in the way his weight pulled against hers just the slightest bit. When they reached the bed, she noticed his nervous, questioning expression, and answered him by pushing back the blankets and climbing in, still pulling his hand with hers.

Vax joined her as she lied down against the pillows, his fingers gripping hers tightly. Squeezing his hand, Keyleth smiled at him before turning over, pulling his arm around her waist and settling her back against his chest, enjoying the warmth that covered her. She waited anxiously, her body rigid, for Vax to make his choice. His own body was held so still and stiff she could feel his uncertainty in every breath he took.

“At the Sun Tree,” he said, his voice soft and tentative, “you said that you saw my face most nights before you fall asleep.”

“I did,” she whispered back, not moving. “I  _do_.”

“So earlier, when you opened the door, when you said you haven’t wanted to be alone most nights, did you mean… that you just didn’t want to be alone, or…”

“Did I want  _you_  here with me?”

She felt him nod behind her.

She was quiet for a long moment, focusing on the feeling of his arm around her, his breath on her neck, and the way she had spent so many nights falling asleep while imagining just this. “I don’t usually mind being alone. But… I’ve found recently that when I’m alone… I miss you. Even if I just saw you. Even if I know you’re just in the other room.”

Finally, his armed tightened around her, pulling her further into him, and she relaxed completely, letting out a slow breath of relief.

She felt his nose nudge against the back of her neck as he buried his face in her hair, and she was surprised by the powerful rush of emotion she felt. The incredibly strong affection she felt for him, the worry she’d felt over the past few days over Vax’s coldness, the growing need she’d felt to have him here with her, just like this. It all hit her as he held on to her with a need and desperation she had never felt directed toward her. It was both comforting and disconcerting.

Things had felt so unsure, so stilted after their talk at the Sun Tree. The way he’d just pulled away from her when she was trying to get him to stop Vex from going after that loot… Vax had been colder to her lately than he ever had been before, and though Keyleth tried to be logical and remind herself that there was a lot going on, especially for Vax, she couldn’t quite shake the fear that she had taken too long and that he had shut the door on them for good.

She didn’t even realize that she had started crying until she felt Vax moving behind her, pushing up on his elbow so that he could look down at her.

“Kiki?” he said, bringing his hand up from her waist to wipe the tears away.

Keyleth shook her head, feeling selfish. Everything that Vax had gone through today, with seeing what had happened to Gilmore, and the Clasp, she should be the one comforting him right now. Not the other way around.  _He_  had come to  _her_.

“Kiki, what’s wrong?” Vax persisted.

“I’m fine. I just… I thought you hated me.”

A sound of pure disbelief left Vax. “Hate you?” His hands moved from wiping away her tears back down to her waist to try to turn her onto her back so he could really look at her. Eventually she conceded, turning over and looking up at him. The look of unguarded affection in his eyes took her completely by surprise, and she felt her heart stutter in her chest. Vax gazed down at her, his hand moving once again to her cheek. “I could never hate you.”

“I know. I know that. And I know that even since we got back from Whitestone there’s been a lot going on. But, you just… you’ve been distant. Not just your normal distant. You didn’t even listen to me when I was asking you to talk Vex out of going after that loot that had been gathered for Thordak. When I tried to grab your hand you just pulled away. I don’t know, I was worried… maybe I had waited too long.”

“I told you at the Sun Tree that I would wait for you,” Vax reminded her. “I meant that.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“No, I do. You came here tonight and you’ve had so much to deal with today and then I laid this all on you…” Keyleth babbled on, unable to look into Vax’s eyes.

“I’m glad you told me,” he responded gently, using the hand that was still gently holding her face to bring her eyes to his. “I know I’ve been distant. I didn’t realize that I was being so distant with you, that you’d feel it so much more than the others. I just… there’s a reason for it. And it’s nothing you’ve done.” He leaned down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead and then moved to lay back down, his hand sliding along her stomach to reclaim its place at her waist.

Keyleth, though, was watching him quizzically. “What is it then?”

He remained silent, turning on to his back and running his hands down his face, a heavy, pained sigh the only sound he made.

She moved up on her elbow, mirroring the position he had been in just moments earlier. Reaching out with her other hand, she took hold of one of Vax’s, tugging gently so that she could see his eyes. “Vax,” she implored, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Talk to me.”

Another heavy sigh came out of him as he dropped his other hand from his face and turned into Keyleth slightly. His grip on her hand tightened as he brought his eyes to her. The pain she saw there was like nothing she had ever witnessed. It pierced through her heart like a dagger and spread an ache through all of her limbs as she watched Vax swallow hard before confession, “Our mother was killed by a dragon.”

It only took a moment for Keyleth to understand, and she didn’t need any further explanation. The pain she felt for him increased, and she her eyes started to burn with unshed tears. “Oh, Vax,” was her aching reply, as she let go of his hand to stroke down his check, his shoulder, her movements frantic and desperate in her need to comfort him. “Are you sure?”

The tears in his eyes answered her question. She had ever seen him like this before, and it scared her. At a complete loss for what to, she pressed a kiss to his forehead, then to his cheek, the fingers of one hand running through his hair. Hoping that the deep breaths he was taking in and the way his hand moved to her waist, pulling her into him, meant that she was doing something right, that he was taking comfort in her, she let him pull her close, her kisses lingering.

As she pressed another kiss to his cheek, Vax turned his head and captured her lips with his. His kiss was desperate, and he clutched at her with frantic hands. Keyleth felt almost as frantic, the emotions within her exploding into a need she couldn’t clearly identify.

Her hands slid beneath his shirt, feeling his hot skin with her palms. She pulled her lips away from his so she could breath, dragging them along his jaw and down to his neck, to the spot where his skin had been scarred by Lord Briarwood’s teeth. Vax’s arms tightened around her at that, bringing her fully into his lap, her legs straddling his hips. Keyleth wanted to feel him everywhere, to press comforting touches to every inch of his skin, so she gripped the bottom of his shirt and started to pull it up.

“Keyleth,” Vax breathed out, bringing his hands to her shoulders and pushing slightly. She could feel from the tremor in his arms and the jumpy way they had moved that he’d had to fight his body to make himself do it. She refused to go, continuing her path of kisses down his jaw.

“Shhh,” she whispered into his ear, before moving back just enough to look into Vax’s eyes, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. “Let me take care of you.”

Her lips moved to his with the softest pressure for the briefest of seconds before traveling back down his jaw, back to the faint scar on his neck from when a sharp pair of teeth had sunk into his flesh. She pressed a light kiss to one of the marks, then the other, lingering as her fingers once again found the edge of his shirt and pulled up. This time Vax didn’t resist, removing his arms from where they still remained with his hands gripping her shoulders just long enough for Keyleth to pull the shirt over his head. As soon as it was gone his arms wound back around her, one pressing into her back and one gripping her hair.

The offending garment now out of the way, Keyleth was able to move her lips further down, pressing a trail of kisses from his neck to a scar just below the hollow of his throat, pushing him further into the mattress as she went. She started moving her hands over his body, creating a path for her lips to chase. Her fingers and palms would run over his skin and when they found a scar, her lips would follow them there. An old burn scar, barely perceptible, just above his heart. A long scar from a knife he’d taken between the ribs when he was young. Keyleth followed the map of Vax’s wounds across his skin, moving her body over him.

Finally, she reached the relatively fresh scar in his side, the one from his near-death in Anders’ study. She pulled away slightly to examine it, her fingers circling it delicately as she remembered what had happened because of that wound. If he hadn’t wandered off by himself, if he hadn’t almost died, they might not be here right now.

Keyleth pressed a gentle, reverent line of kisses across the scar before moving to kiss up Vax’s sternum. His breathing was harsh and ragged now, and as their lips met she pressed her hips against his, her breath leaving her in rush when she felt his desire pressed against her center. She rocked into him one more time, leaving a lingering kiss on his lips before moving back to sit up. Vax watched her, dazed, as she reached for the bottom of her nightgown, moving to pull it over her head.

At the sight, Vax came back to himself, sitting up and moving his hands to cover hers, curling around the fingers that were still holding the bottom of the nightgown. “Keyleth, wait.”

“Vax-“

“No, please… you have no idea how much I-“ he let out a long, pained breath, and Keyleth could feel his hands trembling slightly against hers. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I  _want_  to do this,” she answered back immediately. She pulled her hands away from his, her fingers brushing gently against the skin of his palms, then his arms, as she moved to trace her fingers along his jaw and down his neck, trying to communicate how much she felt for him in her touch. “I want to be close to you.”

Vax’s eyes grew shiny and he opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Movements careful, Keyleth leaned back into him. Their lips brushed, but she made no move to turn it into a kiss, instead letting Vex take control and make the decision, as he had done for her at the Sun Tree. She watched as his eyes closed at feeling of their lips making contact, and after a brief moment that felt like he was breathing her in, his hand was at her cheek, pulling her closer into a soft, slow kiss.

“I want you,” Keyleth said after they separated, still so close to him that her lips brushed his as she spoke. “I want  _this_.” She took a breath, steadying herself. “I  _love_  you.” She smiled at him then, her nervousness at having finally said the words bubbling over.

Vax’s breath stuttered. His hands, which had been resting loosely on her thighs, came up to touch her face, just barely, his fingertips brushing over her lips as though he couldn’t believe the words had come out of them. Keyleth found herself nodding, wanting to answer his uncertainty, her smile turning into a slightly frantic, joyful giggle.

The quiet laugh that escaped Vax as his mouth pulled into a smile surprised her. She leaned in to him again, this time pressing her cheek to his shoulder and her face into his neck. Vax’s arms wound around her waist, pulling her close to him as their bodies shook together in quiet, happy laughter, Keyleth’s still tinged with nerves, and Vax’s still tinged with disbelief. Keyleth let herself sink into the feeling of being held like this by him, and the complete, pure happiness she was feeling in the moment.

They held each other until their laughter faded, pulling back to meet each other’s eyes once again. Keyleth reached down to the edge of her nightgown once more, her determination coming now from more than just lust and her drive to comfort him. She watched as Vax’s eyes followed her hands and his smile faded, replaced by remnants of disbelief and an ever-growing desire. Letting the look on his face fill her and push away her nerves, she closed her fingers around the hem and started to pull up.

“Wait,” Vax said in a strangled voice, his hands stopping her.

Keyleth deflated. “Vax-“

“I want to do it.” His voice was rough as he drew in trembling breaths and his fingers were restless against her hands. “Let me do it,” he requested, looking into her eyes.

She took in a sharp breath as she was overcome by a feeling she wasn’t sure she understood. Without saying a word, she slid her hands out from beneath Vax’s fingers. She noticed that her hands, too, seemed to be trembling, and unsure of what to do with her hands while Vax undressed her, she rested them against his chest, hoping to steady herself once again.

With her hands against his chest, she could feel his breathing become faster and faster. His fingers slipped under the hem of her nightgown, sliding first against her thighs, then her hips, as he moved them up at an agonizing pace.

Keyleth felt her breathing pick up to match rhythm with Vax’s. When his hands reached her waist she started to tremble all over, and leaned her cheek against his shoulder, worried that she might not be able to stay upright otherwise. As his hands stroked her ribs on their upward journey, she looked down at her own hand as it wandered down from Vax’s chest to the scar on his side, the one he’d gotten in Anders’ study. The first time he’d kissed her. The first time he’d told her he loved her. Her fingers brushed over the scar, stroking it with feather-light touches. She felt Vax’s groan in his chest more than she heard it, as his hands stalled for a brief moment before continuing their journey. Keyleth continued her exploration of the scar, wondering that something that should be a reminder of such a hideous memory was instead a reminder of something so wonderful.

When Vax’s hands reached the top of her ribs, Keyleth pulled back to let him pull the nightgown over her head. She focused her eyes on his face as he removed the thin barrier that had been between them. His eyes moved between her face and her body, his hands returning to clutch at her sides, pulling her into him and continuing to stroke his fingers up and down her ribs.

The feeling of Vax’s palms on her skin undid Keyleth. Her eyes drifted closed and her head began to fall back slightly as she rocked her hips against his. His name left her mouth on a breath, and with a deep moan Vax moved his hands around to her back and pulled her into him until they were pressed together, skin to skin, and his lips found her collar bone, sweeping soft, sweet kisses along it that were at odds with the fierceness of his embrace and the desperate way his hips moved beneath hers.

Keyleth’s hands moved across Vax’s shoulders, desperate now to feel every inch of his skin that she could. She was smoothing her hands over his shoulder blades, and her fingers had just barely brushed the edge of his freshest scar when she heard the quiet groan come from her neck, where Vax had his lips pressed to her pulse.

“I’m so sorry. I forgot,” she rushed to explain as she pulled back, her hands sliding back up and over his shoulders.

“No,” Vax said, keeping his arms around her, holding her close. “It didn’t hurt.”

She searched his eyes, looking for any hint of dishonesty. All she saw was what she was sure was mirrored in her own eyes. His desire was balanced out by what she knew well as a look of being slightly overwhelmed, but in the best possible way, complete adoration, and love. Love, most of all.

Still looking into his eyes, she moved her hands back over his shoulders, down the top of his back to find the scar, her handprint that now marked him as hers. She used the fingertips of one hand to trace along the edges of the scar, tracing the shape of her own hand. As she moved her fingers inward to trace over the puckered, raw skin at its center, Vax leaned back into her, trailing his lips up her neck, and pressed a kiss under her ear before whispering, “I love you.”

Keyleth smiled as Vax continued to kiss a path back down her neck, over her jaw, across her collar bone. She remembered the first time he had said that to her, in Anders’ study when he had been so close to death, and when she had been so mad at him for wandering off and almost dying  _again_. He had been so certain in the moment, and she had always just attributed that to the fact that he had lost so much blood and wasn’t aware of what he was really doing and saying. But now, in this moment, as her fingers traced the scar on his back that marked him as hers, as his lips moved across her cheek and  _finally_  to her lips, she started thinking that maybe he really had been just that certain all along. She remembered how unfaltering he had been at the Sun Tree, pouring his heart out, clearly unsure about what she felt for him but never for a second unsure of what he felt for her.

She had been uncertain at the Sun Tree.

She wasn’t uncertain anymore.

“Vax,” she said, pulling away just far enough to speak.

“Hmmm?” Vax hummed back, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Do you remember what you said to me at the Sun Tree? About how if I wanted you, you’d be mine.”

“’If you’ll have me, I’m yours’,” Vax quoted himself.

Keyleth nodded, locking her eyes with him. “I’ll have you.”

And she did.

THE END.


End file.
